Lovebite
by oscine
Summary: Rose has everything she wants - the love of her life and a brilliant job guarding her best friend. But when her dream world shatters, who can she truly trust? Might be M later. Sadly, I do not own VA - Richelle Mead does. And sure, she rocks :


The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that for once… I was happy. No worrying about my fucked-up love life, no being anxious over possible Strigoi attacks, no stressed emotions pouring over the bond from Lissa.

That was the second thing I noticed. No bond. Even three weeks after I'd nearly died (again) and the bond had been erased, my head still felt strangely empty. It had become almost second-nature to slip into Lissa's head whenever I was away from her – just to see how she was, and to make sure she was still breathing. As she was queen now, she was under a lot more threat, and as her guardian I had to protect her. But considering we were at Court, the wards were so powerful that there was no need for my protection unless Lissa had to leave the safety of Moroi magic for some reason.

I rolled over in my comfy bed, spreading myself as wide as possible, relishing in the fact I had a huge double bed all to myself. Or maybe not. My hand made contact with something soft. No, wait – some_one_.

I gasped and jerked my hand away, but the _someone _caught it just before I landed a punch. A deep laugh rumbled through the room.

"Oh Roza, you've not forgotten about me that quickly have you?"

My heart melted a little at his words and I sat up to look at him better.

Dimitri Belikov was a dhampir, like me. He had shoulder-length sandy brown hair and brown eyes so deep I could lose myself in them. Which I often did.

"Sorry," I breathed – I hadn't _forgotten _about him, as such, but it always takes me a little while to get my bearings in the morning. And I still wasn't used to sharing my bed with him. It seemed that would be something that never got old.

"Let's see if I can jog your memory a little," he said suggestively, and before I knew what was happening, he'd pinned me to the bed with his body and begun kissing me – gently at first, but as passion took hold, his movements became more forceful. He was kissing me hungrily now and it took all my self-restraint not to forget myself and stay with him all day. But as a royal guardian, I had duties which needed to be completed. Yes, I'm that awesome.

I pushed Dimitri off me and gave him one last peck on the lips before rolling out of bed, landing a little more awkwardly than I would have liked. He smiled gently, and said in a soft voice, laced with a delicate Russian accent; "You're such a tease Rose."

I turned around to grin back and saw the look in his eyes. I'd thought he was joking a little, but the love that was displayed there left me no doubt whatsoever as to what he wanted to do. I saw the clock out of the corner of my eye and had to tear myself away from his stare, giving a flirtatious little: "We'll finish this later," over my shoulder as I entered my bathroom. _Our _bathroom, I corrected myself. And I smiled. Life was good.

After I'd dressed in the standard black-and-white guardian outfit, I went to collect Lissa from her room. Passing through the wide, ornately decorated corridors of Court still filled me with the same awe that I'd felt when I'd first visited it – just under a year ago now. From somewhere deep inside the maze of rooms, a violin sounded. I could hear the early-morning chatter of Moroi and dhampirs as they greeted each other. It was so peaceful.

"Hey there little dhampir," came a smooth voice from one of the oak doorways I was passing. I sighed. And I'd thought for a moment that everything was okay.

"Hi Adrian," I attempted a smile but it probably came out as more of a grimace. "What can I do for you on this fine morning?"

"Just listen," he said, quite violent for a moment. I was slightly startled but didn't let my guardian mask fall. I nodded as a signal for him to continue.

"I have it on good authority that a large group of Strigoi are currently trying to force their way into the Court from the north boundary. They seem to have recruited Moroi – _living _Moroi – to break through the wards. All the guardians who are supposed to be guarding that area aren't currently… shall we say… conscious. And once they get in, there's no stopping them. There are at least a hundred of them, and that's Strigoi alone, not counting the Moroi and humans they have helping them. You have to _do _something."

"WHAT THE FUCK?" I screamed, turning the heads of a dozen passing Moroi. In lower tones, I continued: "Why haven't you _told _somebody?"

"I have told somebody. I told you." I wanted to punch him, scream at him, beat the living crap out of him, but then I realised. Nobody else would trust him – they'd leave his ramblings down to his use of spirit (the magical _and _alcoholic kind.)

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. It was up to me now.


End file.
